"I can't say it wasn't. But I also thought that the Republican Party
should stand for something, and if we walked away from this, no matter
how difficult, we could be accused of shirking our duty," said Hyde

Lets see, we've got obstruction of justice, abuses of power, and contempt of Congress on the one hand, and White House hanky-panky on the other. I guess they're just about each as bad as the other. If you're a republican.

Oh, and the original version of this story, which ABC pulled, was even feistier. Check it out.

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Henry "Raw" Hyde! Congratulations to the citizens around Chicago for foisting this shithead on the rest of us. What were you thinking?

Posted by: Pechorin | Apr 22, 2005 8:15:20 PM

Henry Hyde is a dope.

You know, a student asked me once — as I was explaining why Nixon was such a horrible, destructive president — what I would have done differently if I were him. I said, "Well I'd like to think I wouldn't have illegally bombed two neutral nations and invaded one without Congressional approval; I'd like to think I wouldn't have enlisted the FBI to surveil civil rights and anti-war activists; I'd like to think I wouldn't have used illegal campaign contributions to fund dirty tricks against political opponents; I'd like to think I wouldn't have wandered the halls of the White House, drunken and incoherent with paranoia, formulating policy with criminals like Henry Kissinger."

That pretty much ended the conversation. Bill Clinton was unbearably flawed as a president, but lying about a blow job doesn't even make the top 50. Only the most deliberate acts of historical amnesia could flatten out the past and generate a parallel between Watergate and Monicagate.

Hyde became a truly unprincipled party hack when the Republicans took over Congress. He should be forever enshrined in the Congressional Hall of Shame. However, his statement "I can't say it wasn't" doesn't really rise to much of an admission. This answer was way overplayed in the article.

Posted by: marvyt | Apr 22, 2005 10:11:27 PM

Well, the question "was it payback?" was pretty bald. So yes, the good senator tried to cushion himself from a direct admission with a double negative, but I still think that's pretty damning.

Was the repporter angling for a juicy headline when he asked that question and played the response for all it's worth? I'm sure. But since Hyde felt comfortable enough to take the bait, I'm not going to feel bad for pointing out his lapse into honesty.

I'm a Californian transplanted to DC, and surprisingly at peace with it. Or at least I was till it started getting colder. Job-wise, I'm the staff writer for The American Prospect. In the past, I've written for the Washington Monthly, the LA Weekly, The LA Times, The New Republic, Slate, The New York Sun, and the Gadflyer. I'm a damn good cook. No, really. Want to know more? E-mail, I'm friendly.